Modular drawer construction



Oct. 11, 1966 T. TOROK MODULAR DRAWER CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 5, 1964 INVENTOR T/BUE' T01? 0K Oct. 11, 1966 T. TOROK 3,278,248

MODULAR DRAWER CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 5, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR 7/50,? 70/?0/( 2x wywr mumw ATTO R N EYS United States Patent ()1 $278,248 MODULAR DRAWER CONSTRUCTION Tibor Torok, Jamaica Estates, N.Y., assignor to The Valtronic (Iorporation, New York, NY, a corporation of New York Filed Aug. 3, 1964, Ser. No. 387,060 2 Claims. ((Cl. 312-398) This invention relates generally to modular cabinet units and is more particularly directed to a modular drawer construction therefor. More specifically, the invention is directed to a drawer unit construction permitting selection for incorporation therein a drawer unit from a plurality of such modular units and to the interchangeability and replacement of drawer pans supported within the drawer unit.

For cabinetry installations especially of the type for use in medical and dental oflices, laboratories, institutions and the like, the requirement for each installation vary from installation to installation in accordance with the work space provided, the activities to be performed in the particular operatory and the desires of those working in the operatory. In order to avoid custom fabrication of each installation, it has been found desirable and expedient to design a line of modular units which can be randomly assembled in accordance with the specifications of the installation. Such modular units are usually designed to the same depth, width and height to provide ease of assembly and installation and uniformity throughout. Where the installation is to provide a countertop or work surface, the modular units will usually be fabricated without a counter and a single counter is custom fabricated to cover all of the units installed in a particular area or along a particular wall. In this manner, a custom installation results without the expense of custom fabrication of each element. By providing a variety of modular units as, for example, for installation in a dental operatory, the dentist may select, from the units available, those units which meet his particular requirements. The units may then be set in place in the operatory in accordance with a preselected plan thereby providing a custom installation to the dentists requirements.

A dentist or doctor, for example, usually requires a great number of storage drawers to store the various tools, supplies and equipment with which he works. In order to provide efiicient operation, the drawers must be arranged in a neat and organized manner to provide ready retrieval of the particular tool or supply required. For this reason, drawer depth and compartment configuration must be properly designed taking into consideration the particular items which are to be stored in the drawers. Because of the variables involved, previous drawer requirements have severely limited maximum utilization of the modular concept.

Furthermore, the dentist or doctor often finds that his original selection of drawer units and location thereof could preferably be rearranged in accordance with his working habits. If, for example, the dentist originally specified that the instrument tray be located in a cabinet along one wall and the tray for burrs be located in a cabinet along another wall and, after working with the installation, the dentist finds that the tray locations should be interchanged, prior constructions would require complete removal of the drawers, drawer frames and even, in some instances, the extension slides. The structural concept in the instant invention completely eliminates the need for any structural rearrangement of drawers and drawer frames by providing a modular frame which can receive and support any one of a number of interchangeable, molded drawer pans. Thus, when the dentist desires to interchange the instrument and burr pans, it is mere y 3,278,248 Patented Oct. 11, 1966 necessary to lift each pan from its respective frame and place it in the desired frame. Furthermore, pans which become dirty may be quickly removed and cleaned. Because of the molded plastic construction and the removability of the pans from the metal frames, optimum cleanliness is assured as the pans may be soaked in water and washed with antiseptic detergents to make them germfree. Since the pans are removed from the metal frames for washing, there can be no opportunity for the frames to become rusted or corroded. It will also be understood that, if a pan becomes damaged, it is a simple matter to remove and discard the damaged pan and replace it with a new one.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a drawer construction incorporating a modular drawer pan which may be readily removed and replaced without the use of tools and without requiring removal or disassembly of any structural elements of the drawer.

A further object of this invention is to provide a drawer construction incorporating the modular concept to permit custom selection of the drawer units to be installed in a modular cabinet.

Another object of the invention is to provide a drawer frame unit which can be installed in a cabinet and which can receive any one of a plurality of modular drawer pans.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a drawer unit incorporating a modular drawer front which may be selected in accordance with the parameters of the drawer unit.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.

Generally speaking, in accordance with this invention, a frame is provided for installation in a modular cabinet, with one frame being provided for each drawer to be installed in the cabinet. The frame is preferably installed on a slide assembly, with a full extension slide being provided, if desired. A plurality of drawer inserts or pans are available and the particular insert desired is supported by the drawer frame. The spacing of the frames is in accordance with a multiple of a modular unit of depth and drawer fronts are provided in accordance with the multiple of the modular unit of the selected drawer insert.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a modular fioor mounted cabinet installation for a dental operatory, for example;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a modular drawer unit constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view of a modular drawer unit mounted in a modular cabinet;

FIG. 4 is a perspective exploded view of a modular drawer unit similar to FIG. 2 but based on a different multiple of the modular unit;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a drawer insert having a compartmentalized configuration;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a drawer insert of a different configuration; and

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view of a drawer frame, drawer insert and drawer front in the assembled position.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a typical installation of modular units for a dental operatory is shown for environmental purposes. Four modular cabinet units are shown by way of example with unit 11 being provided with four drawers, unit 12 including two drawers and a cabinet which may house treatment trays or other equipment, unit 13 which may be designed to house oral evacuation equipment and unit 14 including three drawers and a sliding equipment compartment. A single, one-piece top 15 is secured to the four units to provide a custom installation. Of course, the four units may be arranged in any sequence, with many other units being available. Custom installations based on modular units are well known in the art and have been in use for several years.

In the past, each unit became a catalog item with the purchaser selecting the units which best suited him. With the instant invention, the number of units available can be greatly increased without requiring custom fabrication of the units and without thereby increasing the cost of fabrication of such units.

For example, if the purchaser specifies an all-drawer unit such as unit 11 except with three deep drawers and a shallow tool tray or with two shallow drawers and two deep drawers, the components that will be hereafter described may be readily selected and installedin the standard cabinet.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, a hollow frame 16 of a standard depth is utilized for all installations. Each side of frame 16 carries a roller 17 adapted to cooperate with a drawer slide 18 secured to a wall 19 of the modular cabinet. Drawer slide 18 includes a channel 21 slidably receiving roller 17 and a roller 22 which engages and supports a flange 23 extending outwardly from each side of frame 16. While one construction of drawer slide 18 is shown, it should be noted that such drawer slides are standard components and any desired construction may be utilized including full extension drawer slides.

With the basic frame 16 the drawer unit may be assembled in accordance with the customers requirements. In order to assemble a shallow drawer unit, a shallow drawer pan 24 is provided for support by frame 16. The pan may preferably be molded from plastic thereby having a one-piece construction eliminating crevices and joints which may trap dirt and permitting submersion of the pan for thorough cleaning and disinfecting. Extending outwardly from each of the four sides is a flange 25 adapted to overlie and mate with the flanges 23 on frame 16 and with an inwardly projecting flange on the front face 27 of frame 16 (FIG. 7). This permits easy insertion and removal of the drawer pan while providing strong and secure support therefor. A drawer front 26 whose height approximately corresponds with the depth of drawer pan 24 is secured to the front face 27 of frame 16 as by means of screws extending through holes 28 in the front face and secured in the drawer front as shown in FIG. 7. A handle 29 may normally be provided for opening the drawer. When drawer front 26 is secured to the frame and shallow drawer pan 24 is assembled in and supported by the frame, the resultant drawer unit may be inserted in the modular cabinet in cooperation with the drawer slide to provide a shallow drawer. If the specifications call for a plurality of shallow drawers, any number of such units may be installed in the cabinet, limited only by the overall height of the cabinet. The height of drawer front 26 is designed to be evenly divisible into the overall height of the opening in the cabinet so that multiple units provide for proper spacing and full utilization of the cabinet.

Once drawer frame 16 has been assembled into the cabinet and drawer front 26 attached thereto, the drawer frame is securely supported in the cabinet and slides relative thereto as a structural element without regard to the presence or absence of a drawer pan 24. Thus, if it is desired to remove the drawer pan for cleaning or for replacement by a pan having a different molded configuration, it is merely necessary to fully open the drawer and lift the pan from the frame. The frame,

being independently supported through the extension slide in the cabinet, has sufficient structural strength to remain in position and support the drawer front without regard to the presence or absence of the drawer pan. In replacing a pan, it is only necessary to insert the pan in the opening defined by the size of the frame with the flanges on the pan overlying and supported by the flanges on the frame.

Referring now to FIG. 4, if the specifications call for one or more drawers of greater depth, the same frame 16 will be assembled with a deep drawer pan 31 also having outwardly extending flanges 32 for engagement with flanges 23 and 30 on the drawer frame. The assemblage of a deep drawer pan 31 in the frame is shown in phantom in FIG. 3. A drawer front 33 having a height corresponding with the depth of deep drawer pan 31 is secured to the drawer frame as in the previous assemblage. The height of the drawer front and the depth of the deep drawer pan is selected to be a multiple of the height of drawer front 26 to correlate with the overall height of the opening in the cabinet. In this manner, several deep drawers and/or shallow drawers may be assembled into a single modular cabinet.

From the foregoing, it is apparent that the modular cabinet may be a standard unit as is the drawer slide and the drawer frame. From the customers specifications, shallow or deep drawers may be randomly installed in the modular cabinet, care being taken to install the drawer slide at the proper level.

In many applications, particularly for dentists and physicians, drawers of special configurations may be required. A drawer pan 34 (FIG. 5) may be provided if a series of compartments are required. The pan would be dropped into place in frame 16 and supported thereby in the previously described manner. Because of the height of frame 16 and drawer slide 18, a minimum drawer front height is established and, even if pan 34 is quite shallow, a drawer front such as that shown in FIG. 2 would be utilized, thereby also maintaining the modular unit of depth.

An alternate configuration of a pan is indicated at 35 in FIG. 6. Such a pan would receive and neatly store the variety of tools normally used by a dentist. As with the other pans, such a pan is preferably molded from plastic to provide a lightweight, one-piece construction which permits ready removal for cleaning. Of course, it should be understood, that the pan configuration shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 are for purposes of illustration only. Drawers having any number of configurations can readily be fabricated, the only limitations being on the overall planar dimensions which must correspond with the opening in frame 16.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efliciently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

What is claimed is:

1. For use in a modular cabinet, a plurality of drawers of modular construction, each of said drawers comprising a frame consisting of side sections, a rear section and a front section, said sections being secured together to form a substantially rigid structure defining a substantially rectangular opening therethrough, a drawer pan removeably received in said substantially rectangular opening, means cooperating with said drawer pan and said frame for supporting said drawer pan in said opening, a drawer front, means removeably securing said drawer front to said front section, and means slideably mounting said frame in said cabinet, the height of said frames being substantially equal, the height of each of said drawer fronts being a multiple of a unit divisible into the height of an opening into said cabinet and being no less than the height of said frames, the height of each drawer front being equal to or greater than the depth of the drawer pan with which it is associated on assembly of each of said drawers of modular construction.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 wherein said means cooperating between said drawer pan and said frame comprises flanges extending outwardly from at least two opposed sides of said drawer pan and adapted for over lying engagement with the top edges of cooperating side sections of said drawer frame, said flanges constituting the sole means for supporting said drawer pan on said frame within said opening.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,312,325 3/1943 Earle 3l2308X 2,570,958 11/1951 Lee 217 3 2,620,251 12/1952 Restivo 312- 343 X 10 2,815,649 12/1957 Di Angelus et al. 312 351X CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Examiner.

15 F. DOMOTOR, Assistant Examiner. 

1. FOR USE IN A MODULAR CABINET, A PLURALITY OF DRAWERS OF MODULAR CONSTRUCTION, EACH OF SAID DRAWERS COMPRISING A FRAME CONSISTING OF SIDE SECTIONS, A REAR SECTION AND A FRONT SECTION, SAID SECTIONS BEING SECURED TOGETHER TO FORM A SUBSTANTIALLY RIGID STRUCTURE DEFINING A SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR OPENING THERETHROUGH, A DRAWER PAN REMOVEABLY RECEIVED IN SAID SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR OPENING, MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID DRAWER PAN AND SAID FRAME FOR SUPPORTING SAID DRAWER PAN IN SAID OPENING, A DRAWER FRONT, MEANS REMOVEABLY SECURING SAID DRAWER FRONT TO SAID FRONT SECTION, AND MEANS SLIDEABLY MOUNTING SAID FRAME IN SAID CABINET, THE HEIGHT OF SAID FRAMES BEING SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL, THE HEIGHT OF EACH OD SAID DRAWER FRONTS BEING A MULTIPLE OF A UNIT DIVISIBLE INTO THE HEIGHT OF AN OPENING INTO SAID CABINET AND BEING NO LESS THAN THE HEIGHT OF SSID FRAMES, THE HEIGHT OF EACH DRAWER FRONT BEING EQUAL TO OR GREATER THAN THE DEPTH OF THE DRAWER PAN WITH WHICH IT IS ASSOCIATED ON ASSEMBLY OF EACH OF SAID DRAWERS OF MODULAR CONSTRUCTION. 